Anyone else have to put up with inconsiderate people on the bridlepath?

Yes, last week whilst riding around our local bridlepath which actually surrounds a riding school, a jogger was coming towards us and he started waving his arms around at us as he got closer. We were riding two abreast but the path is big enough to accomadate 2 cars and we were only in walk. As he got level with us he started shouting "you shouldnt be riding round here horses arnt aloud in the park" which was followed by some swearing at us, funny that as not only is it a bridlepath its the only access in and out of the riding school. We simply told him it was a bridlepath an maybe if he had a problem he should go an speak to the riding school owner as am sure she would not hesitate to put him right.
 
Johnny999 said:
Very close to my heart this one as I sit here with cuts and bruises from sunday.
Met a couple with 5 dogs and a child in a very scary above the head carrier on a very narrow section on sunday morning.
Quick calculation was 2 people = problem. Dog = bigger problem. 5 Dogs this is going to be reall.y bad. Child above head - looks odd to, me ponies mind will be fried. So apologised and asked them the stand really still. Got leg on and tap with a stick. Pony took 3 steps and said no. So jumped off and tried to lead her past. Was going well until the guy with the baby carried moved and a dog barked. I got run over by my own horse. Must have been out for a minute based on the distance she covered. Picked her up 20 minutes later as she was going home with her reins tangled around her legs.

No real damage done. Loving mare obviously tried to jump me as only one shoe mark. Guess people just don't understand
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As a nervous solo hacker myself, I can relate to some degree but I do agree with the folks who have advised you to rethink your hacking strategy. I also don't think that asking the folks to stand still while you navigated your way past was the best plan . . . I feel you inadvertently made the situation more scary for your horse. In your shoes, I would have called out to the people in a chatty sort of way . . . just so pony could see they were "people" . . . kept my leg on, my reins loose and walked pony past as briskly as possible (marching).

I know (from personal experience) that as long as I keep Kal moving forward, we'll be fine . . . if I keep things matter-of-fact, and treat odd things as "every day" (if that makes sense), we generally get past them just fine. When he is genuinely troubled or spooked by something, I don't mind if he jogs past, or goes sideways . . . just as long as he is moving forwards/past the object/person/dog, etc. Once past, he gets a huge pat and then we go about our way (usually with Kal heaving a huuuuuuuge sign of relief that he's still alive/hasn't been eaten by whatever it was).

Getting off is generally not a good idea. I've done it twice . . . both times Kal was rearing/napping . . . and now he knows that it's a fantastic way to end the hack/go home. I've had to work really hard to rebuild both our confidence out hacking . . . you're far better off not over-facing yourselves in the first place.

Good luck (and I hope you feel better).

P
 
Broke_But_Happy said:
No horse is completely bombproof though.
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No, but from the description given by this horse's owner it sounds as if it could almost be a common occurrence.

And lets be honest how many of our horses bugger off regularly? Not many I would hope. Or is it the accepted norm now??
 
My pony wasn't quiite 5 when I got him. When we hacked out I chatted to him and anything new and potentially scary that we saw was looked at, discussed and then we quietly moved on. Woman down the lane that got a young horse gave him a crack with her stick and yelled whenever hers tried to look at something.

10 years later I have a sane sensible pony who takes it all in his stride (comment from a local farmer "that's the best behaved horse round here by miles") She's still yelling (now at drivers as well as the horse) and I don't think she as much as rides round the block these days without some drama.
 
Broke_But_Happy said:
No horse is completely bombproof though.
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I can honestly say, in over 12 years of hacking, mostly alone, often in new / unfamiliar places, with me paying very little attention to what I'm doing other than enjoying ourselves, my cob has never beggared off with me. He's never spooked to any degree, reared, bucked, shied or danced about. The most he might do is pick his head up and put his ears forward (and if he didn't do this I would presume he were blind).

During those 12 years, we've encountered shoots, cycle races, ambulances with sirens going, hot air balloons landing and taking off (once rode in the school about 20ft from one going up, it was blowing across into the top end of school, still no spooking!), fields of cattle chasing us, helicopters taking off, herds of deer jumping out in front of us, loose dogs, loose children, and stuff I don't even remember.

I've ridden him while playing various musical instruments, carrying umbrellas, full size flags, flying kites, hoovering him with handheld devices and generally behaving like an idiot. He has given pony rides at village fetes, dodging bouncy castles, crockery smashing, archery and more - while baby sitting small children.

I think I can safely call him bombproof :cool:

I do not think there is any excuse for any horse to bolt (though a true bolt there's not much you can do about it!), no matter what the circumstances. I wouldn't call Fergie bombproof by any stretch of the imagination, but I wouldn't make excuses for him trying to sod off with me - that's unacceptable behaviour and he knows it - and in fairness, I can't remember him trying it. He's a stroppy 5 year old and he knows it - I would not call any horse who did not know such a basic lesson "confidence giving" :rolleyes:

I also maintain that the safest place you can be on a hack is on your horse.
 
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Oh my, just caught up with this thread. I didn't expect such a response.

Amymay, I should've expected such a sarcastic and unhelpful response from you; it is clearly your speciality. Are you gratuitously rude to everyone you meet, or only when you can murk in internet anonymity?

You say I haven't bought a confidence-giving cob. I would beg to differ: she is a cob who gives me confidence. Ergo, she is a confidence-giving cob. I defy you to disprove this. She tries to leg it once in a blue moon and I have these situations under control.

I've spent ages lurking on this site, as it is such a useful source of information. But the snobbery and hostility are unrivalled.

You all savage most posts by a novice and rue the day novices were allowed to keep horses. Why? You slate anyone who does not have your level of expertise.

I am a linguist. I look on this forum every day and weep at the poor language. About 90% of you have no concept of grammar and punctuation and virtually none of you can spell. I would love to jump up and down about this but I am a decent human being and do not attack those less able than me.

So jog on Amymay and try being nice to someone for a change.
 
Goldenstar, my apologies if I'm making generalisations. Many people on here are very helpful but a vocal minority can make us novices feel like complete halfwits.
 
JFTD said:
I've ridden him while playing various musical instruments, carrying umbrellas, full size flags, flying kites, hoovering him with handheld devices and generally behaving like an idiot. He has given pony rides at village fetes, dodging bouncy castles, crockery smashing, archery and more - while baby sitting small children.
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Haha! That's why I love your horses XD
I'm slowly starting to do things like this with Ned. I've got flags, balloons, tarp, umbrellas, spray bottles, hoses and many more things! Roll on getting my driving licence so I can have some 'fun days' with Nedrick :P haha!
I think this is the reason lots of people have spooky horses. They don't put the time in getting their horses used to stuff. Ned's got much braver since introducing just the tarp and Mr. Stick! (bag on a stick) and after using Mr. Stick, I can now go behind him without being threatened with a kick. I even stood behind him practicing platting his tail and doing bandages! (he fell asleep :P)

P.s, "hoovering him with handheld devices" really made me giggle!
 
dogcalleddill said:
Oh my, just caught up with this thread. I didn't expect such a response.

Amymay, I should've expected such a sarcastic and unhelpful response from you; it is clearly your speciality. Are you gratuitously rude to everyone you meet, or only when you can murk in internet anonymity?

You say I haven't bought a confidence-giving cob. I would beg to differ: she is a cob who gives me confidence. Ergo, she is a confidence-giving cob. I defy you to disprove this. She tries to leg it once in a blue moon and I have these situations under control.

I've spent ages lurking on this site, as it is such a useful source of information. But the snobbery and hostility are unrivalled.

You all savage most posts by a novice and rue the day novices were allowed to keep horses. Why? You slate anyone who does not have your level of expertise.

I am a linguist. I look on this forum every day and weep at the poor language. About 90% of you have no concept of grammar and punctuation and virtually none of you can spell. I would love to jump up and down about this but I am a decent human being and do not attack those less able than me.

So jog on Amymay and try being nice to someone for a change.
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I only have three points to make;
1. Not everyone savages most posts by a novice,
2. On this forum, don't mistake confidence in posting for competence in horsey skills, and;
3. It's really not worth ever getting upset at either content or correct grammar (lack thereof) or you'll find all of HHO uphauling. :p
S :D
 
Shilasdair said:
3. It's really not worth ever getting upset at either content or correct grammar (lack thereof) or you'll find all of HHO uphauling. :p
S :D
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Ah, but that's my point, you see. Telling a linguist not to get upset about poor language is akin to telling a rider not to worry about poor transitions and badly-fitted tack. It's also slightly lazy and often worn as a badge of honour ("Don't correct me I'm dyslexic "). Would you tolerate such wilful incompetence in riding (Don't scrutinise me; I don't know the aids)?
 
dogcalleddill said:
Ah, but that's my point, you see. Telling a linguist not to get upset about poor language is akin to telling a rider not to worry about poor transitions and badly-fitted tack. It's also slightly lazy and often worn as a badge of honour ("Don't correct me I'm dyslexic "). Would you tolerate such wilful incompetence in riding (Don't scrutinise me; I don't know the aids)?[/QUOTE]

Yes, I would tolerate someone who didn't know the aids.
I used to work as an instructor, so have all the patience in the world for people who don't know something but want to learn.
I also have a lot of sympathy for nervous people - everyone's assessments of risk is individual to them, and can only be changed by experience.
I'm a bit disappointed that you didn't rise to my bait though. :( You'll see a lot of posters here with baited breath, incidentally. Worth baring in mind. :p
S :D
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I may have missed some posts, but don't think I noticed anyone slating novices on this post? Neither did I think amymay was at all rude, infact her posts on this thread seemed to be the views of many, & certainly my own.
I have absolutely no problems with novices, after all everyone was one at one point, my issue is that if someone can't control a horse out hacking, then they shouldn't be hacking, for their own safety, the horses & the general publics.
Also dont mind if u want to corect any gramaticel linguistical, & punk-tuation and speling's mistakes I hav mayd. After all, we'd all be novices forever if we didn't take the advice of those more experienced than ourselves.
 
I am of an age were we wrote in school,using a fountain pen so my skills in using a key board are poor given that I am usually not supposed to be ' on the forum ' when I am posting I do it quickly and this does result in errors however I am not going to amend my habits because it distresses you dogcalleddill I respectfully suggest that the forum might just be a cause of unecessary irritation for you.
 
littlelegs said:
I have absolutely no problems with novices, after all everyone was one at one point, my issue is that if someone can't control a horse out hacking, then they shouldn't be hacking, for their own safety, the horses & the general publics.

Just for the record, I didn't state at any point that I can't control my horse out hacking. I may get off in tricky situations (in direct contravention of the commandments of the know-it-all brigade) but she has never been out of control.

Also dont mind if u want to corect any gramaticel linguistical, & punk-tuation and speling's mistakes I hav mayd. After all, we'd all be novices forever if we didn't take the advice of those more experienced than ourselves.
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See? There you go. Make a nearly (but not quite) humorous remark about your poor grasp of the language. Bet you wouldn't make such a joke about some dipstick who can't control their pony (let alone their own mother tongue).
 
I have no idea what you're talking about so I'm going to declare myself a chargrilled tuna steak. I'm sure you'll let me know if this is inappropriate.
 
I don't think anyone was slating novice riders, but were suggesting that they should not be riding alone on public highways and byways, putting their own and other peoples safety at risk. I absolutely agree that if you can't control your animal, be it dog, horse, lion or elephant, then you should not have it out in public. Or at least not without someone else who can offer you the necessary help, should a situation occur which most normally comepetant handlers could manage without difficulty, which you cannot cope with.
 
YorksG said:
I don't think anyone was slating novice riders, but were suggesting that they should not be riding alone on public highways and byways, putting their own and other peoples safety at risk. I absolutely agree that if you can't control your animal, be it dog, horse, lion or elephant, then you should not have it out in public. Or at least not without someone else who can offer you the necessary help, should a situation occur which most normally comepetant handlers could manage without difficulty, which you cannot cope with.
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You forgot to include 'mother-in-law'.
S :D
 
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